Running and jumping rope are common exercise types for boxing and lots of people wonder and want to find out which one is better for their boxing training routine. Even though lots of people (including me) think that jumping rope is better for boxing there are some circumstances and running can actually be better for these. Let’s start jumping rope vs running with boxing skills.
About Boxing Skills
Obviously running and jumping rope have lots benefits for boxing skills and one of these is footwork. Footwork is a simple must
for people who train boxing. When you improve your footwork, it will affect almost ALL of your skills in a positive way. You will punch better, have more balance etc. Both running and jumping rope will give you a lighter, quicker foot. With that skipping rope will provide better results because your ankle muscles will work more during skipping. And you will get used to bouncing in the process. In this way you will move effortlessly during sparring and save energy. As you may know extra energy can be the difference between winning and losing in a match. Here jumping rope is a giant step ahead of running.
Coordination
Jumping rope also improves both hand-foot and foot-brain connection significantly. I already have a post which explains benefits of coordination for boxing in detail with scientific researches. Improved coordination also affects your skills all around in a positive way and it also increases your punching power. On the other hand running doesn’t have any effect for the coordination whatsoever. You just need to make sure that your foot lands 😉 It simply doesn’t require any coordination.
Timing
You basically don’t need any kind of timing while running whereas jumping rope is exactly opposite of it. Practicing timing is always good for every sport type and not just for boxing. This is why tennis players also skip rope.
About Cardio
Both of these training types are great for cardio and calories burned during exercise are directly correlated with your training intensity. You can also do high intensity interval training with both of them. Obviously your muscles work differently however it is a tie for cardio. Because none of them will give you greater benefits than the other.
How about Muscles?
Certainly your muscles will be denser with both of these training types. With that jumping rope will challenge your muscles more especially your shoulders, arms and wrists. It will put some serious tension on your muscles and it is great for making these toned.
This is one of the reasons that boxers have more toned muscles. And when you are expert with speed ropes, there are also weighted ropes. And these will put even more tension on your working muscles.
Running is also effective for conditioning of your body however your upper body muscles don’t face any resistance and even though you will lose fat and it is far less effective for having denser muscles.
Variation
Variation is also directly correlated with focus. There are lots of jumping rope techniques including on one foot, double under… You can even do twist. Thanks to these variation types you will jump differently and certainly your timing will also be different. With that there are some very quality jumping ropes which can provide these variations “smoother” and if you are interested in doing this incredible training type, go and check out these best jump ropes.
In this way it will improve your focus, footwork and coordination together. And actually there are not many exercise types which can accomplish these.
Also when you do a mistake or don’t swing the rope properly you need to react according to it. And when it happens the first time you won’t be so calm and probably won’t react well too. However imagine that it happens over and over again. Won’t you be calmer? I am sure that you will be because it happened to me and I also read so many testimonials which basically say the same thing. This will prepare you for sudden changes during sparring. Whereas running doesn’t have any effect on “being calmer” whatsoever.
Focus
As you may know boxing requires constant focus and if a boxer loses focus just for a millisecond, the result can be even KO. With that running doesn’t require any focus and you may even feel like you will sleep. It happened to me so many times when I use treadmill. However when you skip rope you need to focus on a lot of things including how to jump and when to jump. This will work your brain and hopefully you will never feel like falling asleep during the training session 😉
You probably think that jumping rope is definitely superior to running and according to many researches you are absolutely right however it can be better for you to run in following circumstance.
Let’s continue with the beginners…
If you don’t have any jumping rope or boxing skills and want to get more condition right away then running will be
definitely better for you. Because I know it from myself that learning how to skip rope can take time and I got used to jumping rope rather late. And it was really time consuming.
When I started sparring, I really had hard time to keep my energy level in a certain level because I had not done “enough” cardio. Because I simply couldn’t do any jumping rope training which can challenge me.
So if you will just begin boxing training and don’t have any skipping rope skills according to me it would be best for you to run in your boxing training routine. In this way you can do intense cardio and prepare your lungs and body for other boxing training sessions.
About Space and Equipment
Obviously you need available place or a treadmill for running. And you can basically jump rope anywhere except tough floors like concrete. Both of these literally need minimum equipment.
Which one is better for your Physical Health?
Constant running will put pressure on your joints and will be harmful for your bones. And some of you probably know that elderly people definitely needs to consume omega oil if they run.
Actually age does not matter, running can affect your bones whether you are old or young. On the other hand jumping rope puts very little tension on your joints comparing to running, so it is safer for your physical health.
Conclusive Thoughts
As you can see jumping rope has so many incredible benefits including having better footwork, balance and coordination. These are directly correlated with boxing skills improvement. And let’s not forget that it also increases focus. These are all good right? However if you just start boxing training and don’t have any skipping rope skills, learning how to skip rope can take your time and if you don’t have any cardio exercise in your workout routine then it is ideal for you to start running and get your cardio. In this way you will be able to keep your energy in a certain level during other boxing training types. And when it is time to concentrate on your boxing skills such as footwork, timing etc then it is time to get a jump rope. I hope you enjoyed reading and if you have any questions or experiences related to the subject please leave a comment below.
I had never thought before about which one is better before. I think that it doesn’t depend on the circumstances though. I do have a query about the running though. How about running a treadmill rather than outside? Would that make any difference at all?
Running on treadmill can harm your joints however if you run at outside it does not do any harm whatsoever and you can also get fresh air 😉